8/18/10 Animal House

It was a VERY long and tough day yesterday...the photos will help tell the tale. After the long drive, we walked in to the attic room at the frat house that DS1 will be sharing with two other guys...

There was guy sleeping in the bunk bed...

...at 2pm...

...on a Tuesday...

...yay.

After 'Sleeping Guy' (DS1 explained that 'he likes to sleep a lot'...uh huh...does he really think I'm buying that?) exited (not one of DS1's new roommates...thank G*d) we met his two roommates (who haven't moved into the room yet...and didn't look like they just woke up)...really nice guys...one is a Senior (forgot to ask the other one), so I took that as a good sign that he hadn't partied his way out of school...yet.

Then we looked around...Trust me, the pics don't do it justice...'Sleeping Guy' is moving out tomorrow (his parents are coming to help...I'd love to be a fly on the wall) and his stuff was everywhere on the floor and surfaces...literally. I'm so mad I forgot to get a pic of the floor where his 'closet' broke. There are no closets in this room so he bought a two rod garment rack (the same one we bought DS1...Uh-Oh...We're sending supplies in a care package to tether it to the wall) and the remnants of it were all over a 10' x 10' area...rods...clothes (I'm still not sure if any of them were clean...even the ones still on hangers)...empty hangers...everywhere on the floor...mixed in with lots of trash.

So we took a look around at all the trash and mounds of 'stuff' (I'm being VERY generous with that word) everywhere (you could hardly walk) and all I could say was 'OMG!' (over and over again...until DS1 snapped me out of it with 'Mom! It's a Frat House!'...Oh yeah, WHAT WAS I thinking?!! D*mn DH for having been a Frat boy!)...it took everything I had to hold it together and not grab my baby boy and go running from the house (if I'd seen even ONE bug, it would have happened)...I was happy to see the hardwired smoke detectors, sprinkler system and fire escape stairs.

Apparently this attic room is the largest bedroom (it's bigger than it looks in the pics...it's a huge room) at the frat house so it becomes the 'party room'....yay.

All DS2 could say was 'WOW' and 'My EYES!, My EYES!'...Children's Services is going to be knocking on my door any minute now to take him away from me...I've scarred him for life. Here's DS2 checking out the party set-up...(I caught him later playing one of the guitars on a couch...all I could think was 'AHHH! He's sitting on that couch!!! You don't know where that couch has been!') Oh, and this was when we first walked in and before one of his roommates brought in his couch...making that now 5 couches in the party area...they were talking 'stadium type seating' at that point (I think 'Sleeping Guy' is taking a couch out...yay).

Then we shoved 'Sleeping Guy's' 'closet' and desk over to one side (you can see 'Sleeping Guy's' bunk on the left that he was sleeping in...at 2pm...on a Tuesday...with the bottom bunk completely broken off...oh, and look at the shelf of booze bottles above his head...explains a lot about his name don't you think?) to make a corner on the other (I'm officially dubbing it the 'non-party-side'...that's my story and I'm sticking to it) of the room for DS1. See that window...it's totally cracked and broken...with shards of glass on the floor right next to DS1's corner (we'll be sending some plastic and tape in our 'care package')...kill me now.

Then we 'swept' the trash and other grossness (you don't even want to know) out of his corner...let's just say his bare feet should never touch that floor...they would stick...permanently.

Then we set up his bed (Hells NO!... It's a bed/mattress we got him.) and his oak desk we brought from home (the desk we bought him on Craig's List has a tall cabinet and wouldn't work with the knee walls in the attic room). His couch, coffee table (he made) and mini fridge we placed on the party-side.

And four hours later...

Here's the 'After'...bed on big risers so there's room for tons of stuff underneath; 3 giant bins of food (Don't want my baby to starve), a small bin of cooking tools (for all the food), a small bin of kitchen cleaning supplies (that apparently will never get used), a bucket and cleaning supplies for the room (that apparently will never get used), a small bin of every kind of medicine (I reminded him of the antibiotics I put in there...just in case his feet ever touch the floor), and a totebag with laundry supplies (that apparently will never get used). He hung his 3 posters over his bed...to cover up the myriad of screws everywhere and random boards still attached to the walls (I'm guessing from former lofts, but what do I know...see the board way over his head...I made DH remove all the screws that were around his pillow area). There's his 'closet' (oh, and look, it's a towel rack and bookbag rack too!) at the end of the bed and his laundry hamper (that apparently will never get used).

See how happy he looks? We bought a few drawers and a two square bin holder to add/stack to his book cabinet from last year (since the Frat house can't afford closets...just big screen TV's and sand for basement 'beach parties'...OK, there's the up side I've been looking for...there could have been sand on his floor too). Look there's an alarm clock next to his lamp (that BETTER get used!). Apparently everyone in the house (except 'Sleeping Guy'...who can sleep at any time...even 2pm...on a Tuesday) hangs black out curtains around their bed space so they can sleep (you never know when there might be a party going on in the other/party-side of the room...kill me now...Do you think I could chain him to the non-party-side?).

Just past his 'closet' is the desk area stocked with supplies (also on the non-party side); he brought his desk chair up last weekend and has to still go and retrieve it. We hung his batik, the bulletin board and a dry erase board (screws were easy to find...yay). And finally, there's some shelves just before the door with a coffee and shower supplies station...and LOOK!...there on the floor! There's an actual trash can we brought (that apparently will never get used).

Yes, I actually left my son in this place (whispering to him not to have too much fun)...and I have the pics (evidence for Children's Services...don't laugh...I'm subpoenaing you all for the hearing) to prove his area was semi-safe and clean when we left. On the way home (after we stopped at McDonald's to wash our hands about 10x) I gave DH Holy He!! for being a Frat boy (trust me, our sorority house was beautiful with Ethan Allen furniture in every bedroom and real closets even, so I'm taking NO responsibility for this), but he reminded me of the day we moved him into his frat house six months after I met him and how bad his room looked when we arrived...apparently I have a selective memory (I'm just hoping I can forget how DS1's room looked...ever).

I don't want to hear ONE word from the rest of you dropping your babies off at college this year and how HARD it was...just remember...it could be worse (and for me, it is).